On Saturday, July 29th, the Toronto Animated Image Society (TAIS) is thrilled to present a summer night of animated dreams: two 60 minute programmes of short animated films, the results of the 2017 Anijam competition, and a new interactive work in VR by artist Zeesy Powers.

Featuring 20 short animated films, all created within the last two years, the finalists in this year’s programme cover a variety of genres and stylistic approaches to the animation art form. Including ethereal and spooky dreamscapes, car chases, evocative abstraction, environmental issues, humour, sentimentality, and themes that speak to a positive Queer future, this year’s programme features narrative and experimental films from 9 different countries: Canada, USA, Costa Rica, UK, China, Scotland, Switzerland, Spain, and Taiwan.

This programme is for mature audiences only.

Awards will be given, as selected by the audience, and a guest jury of Canadian animation gurus/filmmakers/artists: Michael Fukushima, Adrienne Crossman, and Nicolas Sassoon. The audience will select an ‘Audience Choice – Short Film’ and ‘Audience Choice – Best Anijam’. The jury will award a ‘Grand Prize – Best of the Showcase’ award, and a ‘Jury’s Best Anijam’ award. Full bios for the 2017 Jury are available HERE.

Also featured is TAIS’ BIG EYES Sharp Teeth Anjiam competition. With 20 entries this year, these 10-second animations bite off more than they can chew, and hold you in a piercing glare and won’t let you look away. With wide-eyed wonder we’re excited to watch this year’s competition! It will be fierce!

2017 Animation Showcase Poster

For the 11th Annual TAIS Animation Showcase promotional campaign, artist Patrick Kyle was commissioned to produce this stunning artwork. Created in response to our Anijam theme BIG EYES Sharp Teeth, Patrick’s illustration represents of all the creatures that lived under your bed when you were a child.

Patrick Kyleis a Commercial Illustrator and Multidisciplinary Artist from Toronto, Canada. He graduated from The Ontario College of Art and Design in 2009. He has authored three books; the zine collections “Black Mass” (Mother Books, 2012) and “Distance Mover” (Koyama Press, 2014) and the graphic novel “Don’t Come in Here” (Koyama Press, 2016.) His fourth book “Everywhere Disappeared”, a collection of short comics, will debut from Koyama Press in 2017. Patrick is an active member of Toronto’s independent comic book and zine community and has contributed to organizing the small press portion of The Toronto Comic Arts Festival since 2009. He became a co-organizer of the annual small press exhibition Zine Dream in 2015. More of Patrick’s work can be found at www.patrickkyle.com

The 2017 Showcase is presented with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council. Additional support is provided through the generosity of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, and the following partner organizations, local businesses, and supporters: